Infant among 32 foreigners nabbed in illegal settlement near Seremban

An aerial view of the illegal settlement near Seremban. -Immigration pix

SEREMBAN: An infant is among 32 undocumented immigrants detained in an illegal settlement near here.

Negri Sembilan Immigration Department director Kennith Tan Ai Kiang said the others comprised 16 men and 15 women.

Those detained, all Indonesians, are believed to have been living in the area, the size of two football fields, for several years, he said here on Friday (March 3).

"They chose a hidden area to avoid detection.

"We also found tents put up in the jungle which we believe was for them to hide," he said, adding that a total of 47 Indonesians were found in the settlement.

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Tan said several enforcement agencies were involved in the operation carried out at around 1am.

The enforcement teams checking the the documents of those detained in the raid.

He said the raiding team had to walk 1km through the jungle to reach the settlement, which was located in hilly terrain.

"Some of the people there tried to flee when they noticed us but were captured," he added.

Tan said the authorities had received a tip-off from the public about the illegal settlement and his department then conducted surveillance over a two-week period.

He said the authorities had yet to establish who owned the property on which the settlement was built.

"If it was built on government property, we will ask the local council to demolish the buildings," he said.

According to Tan, those detained would be investigated under the Immigration Act 1959/63, Passport Act 1966 and Immigration Rules 1963 for not having a valid travel document, overstaying and related offences.

They have been sent to the Immigration depot in Lenggeng for further investigation.

On Feb 1, the department detained 67 undocumented Indonesians, over 30 of them children, in a raid on a secluded area in Nilai that was also over 1km inside the jungle.

There was a makeshift school in the settlement at which the children were being taught according to the Indonesian syllabus.

The settlement was powered by several gen-sets.